Bicycle Wheel Bow Has Plenty of Kick

Here’s a clever way to recycle and reuse an old bicycle wheel! [Darren] came up with this idea a while ago, and unable to find any mention of it on the internet, he decided to make his own — He calls it the Bike Wheel Bow.

Now technically it may look like a bow, but it’s actually more of a bow-like-sling-shot, as it relies on stretch of the string (which is rubber tubing) instead of the bow itself — regardless though, it’s a cool piece of kit.

[Darren] chopped up a bicycle wheel, removed the spokes, and was left with a nice semi circle. Using regular old eyelets he installed them around the perimeter giving it a bit of a compound bow look. He’s using rubber medical tubing with a section of bicycle inner-tube in the middle which provides a fold, allowing you to shoot arrows without knocks. You can use the inner-tube for the whole thing, but it’s not as powerful.

For a bow made out of almost entirely recycled parts, it’s pretty good — he’s even made an arrow rest using the hub and a bent spoke. The only caveat to the design is the rubber tends to stick on the eyelets — it’s best to lube them up a bit before shooting. Alternatively a few $1 pulleys might work even better!

Perhaps I should expand on my reply. It operates like a slingshot because it relies on the stretch of the tubing, and because it has a thing to rest what you’re shooting on in the middle of the tubing.

“Now technically it may look like a bow, but it’s actually more of a bow-like-sling-shot, as it relies on stretch of the string (which is rubber tubing) instead of the bow itself — regardless though, it’s a cool piece of kit.”

meh, I rarely go for these pedantic little moans but as there was such an established moan train running down here I couldn’t help but jump on :)
Must make some constructive comments to balance the karma…

Ok, ok, it’s not a bow (power to fire the projectile is obtained from the rubber “string” and not the metal “bow”), but it will shoot arrows and looks cool, so what the hell, let him call it what he likes.

I was going to suggest pulleys before I read the whole article. Also be careful what kind of lubricant you use on rubber- some lubricants will make the rubber break down, which WILL break at the worst possible time and hurt you. Cool build, though! I’ll have to do this with my Hunger Games- obsessed nephews.
BTW- a good source of strong rubber straps is physical therapy clinics. They use them in several thicknesses for resistance training and rehabilitation.